[SPOILERS] Vive l'Afrique libre : Bowsling and Aivoturso are Mansa Musa of the Zulu

[Bowsling]

If you're playing or dedlurking, you should probably leave now.
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Pregame:
Bowsling's snake pick picks (Post 4)
Bowsling's player analysis (Post 9)

[Bowsling]

So my only idea for a theme thus far would be an ironic sort of fusion of respectable gentlemen and gangstas.

You homies down, yo?

Or do you have a better idea (I'm sure there are many, many more)?

[Krill]

Actually that sounds like a good theme.

[Bowsling]

Alright, serious business, we got a snake pick too do. IMO, first pick should be a leader. Unique civ stuff aren't nearly as significant as traits are, and most tech combos are repeated. No unique building compensates for financial or the lack thereof.

List of obvious leaders (in order of wanting):
Pacal II (Fin/Exp) - Mansa Musa (Fin/Spi) doesn't need much justification here.
Darius I (Fin/Org)
Willem (Fin/Cre)
Elizabeth (Fin/Phi)
--Fin Dropoff--
Both Indian leaders (Spi/Phi, Spi/Org)
Peter (Exp/Phi)
Sury (Exp/Cre)

Civs that I would want, not really in order but sort of in order (almost definitely second round unless odd circumstances come up):
Inca (not with cre)
India
Maya: ball courts and holkans are sick, Mysticism/Mining allows us to grab monotheism and run org rel super early
Zulu: quite underrated IMO. Starts with Hunting/Agri, and both unique things are nice even without the Spanish Apolyton route
England: redcoats and stock exchange probably make up for starting with fishing
Byzantium: decent starting techs and cataphracts
Any civ that starts with Argi/TW (Ottomans, Sumeria, Egypt and France in that order).

[Aivoturso]

Thanks Bowsling taking initiative to create the thread.

I agree that Pacal, Mansa Musa and Darius are the top of the pack. IMO, rest of the Financial leaders belong before any of the others. If the map has even half way decent amount of rivers, Financial is a must have. Even if you'd have to pick a leader with AGG or PRO as the secondary ability. Since we don't know anything about map, we'll have to assume. And since the map is human created, I'll bet that it has enough rivers to justify any FIN leader.

I'd like to add couple of civs to the list (in no particular order):
Khmer: +1 food from aqueduct replacement. Also proper use of Ballista Elephants makes this civ very hard to attack with Knights.
Roman: Mere possibility to build Praetorian will discourage our neighbours from pissing us off early on. Extra speed to GP from forum is also a nice plus.
Holy Roman: Rathaus, 'nuff said.

[Aivoturso]

BTW, what are we using the theme for? Naming cities and units? As long as we won't roleplay the diplo I'm fine with the theme.

[Bowsling]

I suggested this:

So my only idea for a theme thus far would be an ironic sort of fusion of respectable gentlemen and gangstas.

You homies down, yo?

Or do you have a better idea (I'm sure there are many, many more)?

And Krill seemed to like it. We can name our scout Tupac.

Agreed with you on most counts. Good catch on HRE, I meant to put that on there. I have almost no experience playing with the Khmer, but their stuff seems nice enough. Only qualm I have with Rome is that they start with fishing, and that Praets might not be as useful on a map designed to discourage early conflict.

Also, are we playing where everyone gets a scout? I would go out of my way to get a hunting civ if we aren't.

[Krill]

Well, when you said gangsters I thought you meant stuff like Capone and Kray, not some two-bit rapper.

[Bowsling]

Player Analysis

Lord Parkin/Arkipeller/Magno_uy
With WilliamLP dedlurking

This team will be... an adventure. Lord Parkin is obviously a very very strong player and will probably micro this civ into a lead. This is probably the most educational of all the teams, as both his teammates are fairly inexperienced players. The trouble for them will probably be to avoid being the dogpile candidate, the natural result of Parkin's games. If diplomacy is left to Arkipeller and Magno, they might be able to pull this off. I pray to god that Magno and Arkipeller do the diplomacy for this team. WilliamLP seems to be a solid player, but I'm not sure how actively he'll be participating.

slaze/Maga_R
With Jovan Kukic dedlurking

I think this is the most appropriate gif I used for any team. slaze is a no-nonsense kind of guy: he'll just sit in the corner plotting until he decides that the time is ripe for you to be destroyed. And at that point, you're dead. slaze is I think the strongest player in this game, although he doesn't really boast about it in any way. This is the second frontrunner that I predict we'll see, and IMO the favourites to win this one. This doesn't even include his teammate Maga, also a skilled player (as long as she doesn't start using privateers! ). Jovan Kukic is a very strong player AFAIK, but I have no experience with him.

YossarianLives/Caledorn
With scooter and Old Harry dedlurking

This is a team that I suspect we'll be working with closely. Both are strong players (although I've ever seen or read Yossarian play solo), but I doubt they can run away with a game like this. Instead, I see them being our allies in taking down slaze or Lord Parkin. This team will be very easy to work with, although we should not be too quick to trust them. Their diplomacy will be very strong. Old Harry and especially scooter dedlurking makes them scarier.

Yuufo/Bisons

I still haven't quite deciphered how the French civ community plays. This will be a mid-level team that's not very interested in diplomacy. There is probably a lot to gain if we can get them to trust us, although I wouldn't count on that.

classical_hero/Halvgud

I really really really want to start near these guys. Halvgud seems to be a newbie (he played for a bit in the warmup game before getting replaced by more experienced Filon), and he is an RL friend of Caledorn's. classical_hero, on the other hand, will be pulling the strings here. His play is textbook improvement junkie. I took over for his civ after he bailed on the Intrateam Game, and man, that civ was a disaster. Nearly useless improvements were built all over the place, and he was running a hardcore SE and understandably getting wayyyy outteched by his neighbour slaze. I could go on with examples, but suffice it to say that this team will be highly conquerable: big, well-improved cities with small, backward garrisons.

Jury is still out on which side is the cat in the cat gifs. I think it's us.

[Bowsling]

Well, when you said gangsters I thought you meant stuff like Capone and Kray, not some two-bit rapper.

The difference is in the ending. Real gangster is a really good idea actually.